I reckon it's a bit of a misconception that it's harder to get knocked out with boxing gloves, as well. In my experience, there hasn't been so much of a sharp, painful impact, but they rock you plenty.

I reckon it's a bit of a misconception that it's harder to get knocked out with boxing gloves, as well. In my experience, there hasn't been so much of a sharp, painful impact, but they rock you plenty.

I'm sure I read something similar somewhere. I seem to recall the extra padding causes the brain to rattle around more somehow. I'm not sure though and I'd be interested to hear something definitive.

That and the risk of getting hit is much more with the tiny little gloves versus the 16 oz gloves a boxer will wear. It doesn't take much to knock someone out with the little gloves they have. There is also no padding on the shins and knees. Deflecting is a more conservative strategy. I haven't seen many MMA fighters trade blows with each other like boxers do for obvious reasons. Any punch or kick can be an instant KO or takedown if they are not careful and they usually just can't streamroll in like a Tyson or Joe Frazier because of the clinch game and takedowns. Isn't the hit rate higher for MMA bouts vs. Boxing bouts?

The only two guys I've seen that can avoid punches like that are Anderson Silva and Machica. Perhaps if more pro boxers turned MMA and got really good at grappling as well so they wouldn't be afraid of being taken down we might see more about it. Anderson Silva is pretty much the closest MMA has right now.

First, the big gloves are easier to see, so they're easier to see and slip.

Second, even if the big gloves have more padding, they also give the boxer the security to throw his hands faster and harder. This is just speculation, but I guess it's what lets football players tackle harder with pads on.

You misunderstand my reference. In one episode of sport science, they measured the force of rugby vs. football tackle, and football hits harder, by a lot. They also comment that rugby players tackle more, bringing it more even, but it's beside the point. The padding gives a psychological security to the wearer, allowing them to run faster and put more into the tackle. I'm offering some speculation as to whether the big gloves of boxing offer the same psychological security.

You misunderstand my reference. In one episode of sport science, they measured the force of rugby vs. football tackle, and football hits harder, by a lot. They also comment that rugby players tackle more, bringing it more even, but it's beside the point. The padding gives a psychological security to the wearer, allowing them to run faster and put more into the tackle. I'm offering some speculation as to whether the big gloves of boxing offer the same psychological security.

That was a **** test. The football guy was a name NFL guy. The rugby guys were from some American college. The NFL is the absolute elite of big aggressive powerful dudes in the states. Rugby is the loser's sport. Too weak for football too slow or fat for track etc etc. They get 17th pick. If they'd pitted the NFL guy against say this man http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_Leota it would have been different.